Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) traveled south yesterday in attempt to defuse a controversy that is threatening to engulf Greater Tainan, one of the party’s staunchest strongholds.
Greater Tainan Mayor William Lai (賴清德) has suggested that earmarks for local councilors to grant for construction projects should be tightened as part of the municipality’s austerity measures to resolve a NT$100 billion (US$3.4 billion) deficit.
The proposal has attracted broad opposition from city councilors including the Non-Partisan Political Alliance, which had instead advocated for an increase in the amount given to rural lawmakers, to match the sum available to their urban counterparts.
The belt-tightening measure, which could shave hundreds of millions of NT dollars from the city budget, left the DPP-led Greater Tainan council grinding to a halt last week, with three provisional council sessions adjourned early without conclusion.
Councilors have accused Lai of suggesting that the earmarks were connected to allegations of corruption and called on the mayor to apologize.
However, Tsai’s visit shored up support from the 27 DPP -councilors of the 57-member council, although several independent councilors led more than 100 protesters in a rally outside.
Calling Lai’s measures “a reform,” Tsai praised the DPP councilors for coming together in support of the beleaguered mayor and also called on independent and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) councilors to come back to the bargaining table.
Lai, who on Tuesday met President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), said both the president and Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) had spoken in favor of his changes, saying that they believed the earmarks were a privilege and not a right.
“As both Ma and Wu support Lai’s reform, the KMT should ask that its councilors come back to the council so that it can engage in a substantive review of the city budget,” Tsai said.
Questions over the construction earmarks first arose after Tainan city and county merged in December following the special municipality elections.
Previously city and county councilors were given NT$20 million and NT$5 million respectively per year.
Lai has said he would like to change the arrangement so that the fund would only be accessible by request, rather than entitlement, calling it a belt-tightening measure.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS